{"id":896,"date":"2004-09-19T03:57:01","date_gmt":"2004-09-19T08:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/?p=896"},"modified":"2004-09-19T03:57:01","modified_gmt":"2004-09-19T08:57:01","slug":"artcarfest-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/2004\/09\/19\/artcarfest-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"ArtCarfest 2004"},"content":{"rendered":"

Downtown San Jose, typically the squarest place in 50 miles, became a tad cooler
\nyesterday with the arrival of ArtcarFest 2004. <\/p>\n

The premise of ArtcarFest is that people who have made a canvas of their cars
\ngather all their zaniness into a single zipcode. There’s a strong aroma of hippiedom
\n— lots of peace symbols, feminist agitprop, antiwar statements, etc — but
\nthe tone is light, frivolous, antic, occasionally silly. ArtcarFest presumes
\nto be the exact opposite of the typical classic-car show, but the people who
\nput 90 coats of paint on a 1950 Mercury have a lot in common with the people
\nwho glue 90 Disney figurines on the roof of their 1969 Beetle. The classic car
\nbuff wants to celebrate the automobile; the carart buff wants to subvert it.
\nEither way, cars provoke a creative obsession that produces more photo ops than
\nyou can shake a hubcap at. Just what I need on a cool, cloudy Saturday.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

An early ’60s Caddie covered with costume jewelry. Because the car was so tired
\nof its owners getting to wear all the fake pearls.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The couple kicking back in Snorky’s back end are having a high old time. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A Bug, with wings. Somebody had to, right? <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Sometimes an artcar is a concept. The frame rail says "Guitars not guns"
\nbut from this angle those axes look remarkably similar to firearms. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m pretty sure I saw this car built in some Discovery Channel show. Note how
\nunromantic cigarette smoke is from this angle.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

No, bud, it’s a lot longer than that. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This creation was absurdly over-chromed. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It looks much cooler from the rear — suddenly "Rudolph the Red-Assed
\nReindeer" springs to mind.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Who profits from your self-loathing, this car with curlers on the roof asks.
\nOne of those "message" cars that’s about as subtle as a blown engine.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

… because we all should tremble before the Creator, right? <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Look, it’s interactive: people write their suggestions for Scooby doings on
\nthe paper. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Some people you just know were hippies back in the day. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Two guys having a deep geographical discussion — good thing somebody left
\nthat globe there. (this is weird: every time I try to write globe<\/i>, it
\ncomes out blog<\/i>.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For those lacking a globe: a pickup truck coated with maps. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

File under: What’s the wackiest thing you could do to four-door Ford Maverick?
\nYou start with tailfins, naturally….<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

… but you keep adding stuff like this compass and all these mechanical-looking
\ncontrivances. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Some carartists just stick as much junk as they can find on the roof. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Others stick to a theme. Note the cat ears up there on the roof. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

One car was covered with snow globes: I wanted to shake it real hard and see
\nwhat happened, but I figured it might shake the globes off the roof (which,
\ncome to think of it, might not have been a bad idea. I love the "Rosebud"
\nmoment of a snowglobe exploding.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I took this only to get the downtown fountains in the background. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

This guy took the "cover it with junk" ethic to extremes. Fortunately
\nhe eventually ran out of car. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Here’s a little girl checking out the famed Carthedral — an old hearse done
\nup in Gothic fashion. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The guy next to the Carthedral had this little black dog that attracted a very
\nlarge dog to stop by and sniff. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A carartist with her art, her dogs and her lunch. All that matters in the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Downtown San Jose, typically the squarest place in 50 miles, became a tad cooler yesterday with the arrival of ArtcarFest 2004. The premise of ArtcarFest is that people who have made a canvas of their cars gather all their zaniness…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[41],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/896\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tommangan.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}